‘Why areyouattackingus?It’snotourfault…

‘Shut up!’ the spirit said.

I ignored him.

‘…Your road will never be finished anyway!’ I cried.

I had barely completed the statement, which was drowned out by all the noise and wailing around, when a most ominous roll of thunder gathered.

‘You are a fool!’ the spirit said.

‘Why?’

The thunder broke over our heads and lightning cleaved the land and in front of us a monstrous chasm burst open on that strange earth. On the other side of the chasm our own road continued. The chasm was the lowest point of our journey.

‘Because,’ said the spirit, ‘you have annoyed their god.’

‘How?’

‘Their god didn’t want them to understand what the prophet said.’

‘Then why did their god allow the prophet to say it?’

‘Because it is true.’

‘You mean their god doesn’t want them to know the truth?’

‘Yes and no. They will know what they need to know when they need to know it. Only gods know the truth. Only all of the gods united into one God can know all of the truth. The people will have to become gods, and they are not ready, and will not be ready for thousands and thousands of years. Besides, it is bad to have too many gods in the universe. And so the people know as much as they need. When they need more, seek more, they will find more. Do you think it is good to know all the truth when you arejust beginningto build agreat road?’

‘No.’

The spirit was silent.

‘I don’t think they heard me anyway. There was a lot of noise around.’

‘Don’t worry about that. The people are deaf to the truth. It is their god you have angered. Our journey will become a bit more perilous, that’s all.’

It was my turn to be silent. All around houses collapsed of their own enigmatic will. The road howled. The land contorted in the agony of a bad dream. The people were bewildered. Wondrous flowers burst out of the barren places, sprouted out of the wreckage. The blood of the dead bloomed into silver-coloured trees. Red geraniums, like spontaneous flames, leapt into being on the golden edges of the valley. Roses flowered in the air. The acropolis smelled of death and beauty, the aroma of beauty conquering decay. The weeping inhabitants didn’t notice the transformation taking place under the alcoholic potency of the air.

‘How are we going to cross this chasm?’

‘It was your fault.’

‘I am sorry.’

‘We are going to have to cross it. Your companions are desperately waiting for your arrival.’

‘How are we going to cross it though?’

The spirit said nothing. Thunder growled in the distance. The lights changed over everythingand thegolden huedeepened tillit becameakind of radiant darkness.

‘Iamgoingtohavetotieyoutomy back,becauseIstillcannottrustyou!

‘Why can’t you trust me?’

‘I’m still not sure you want to return to your companions.’

Before I could protest the spirit caught me, pinned me to the ground with its weight of a mountain, and tied me up with silver cords. At the same moment Mum came into the room, lowered her face to mine, and embraced me tight. The spirit tied me to its back.

‘You’ve become so light anyway that you will be no problem in the flying.’

Mum talked to me in the deepest hours of the darkening golden hue. Her embrace tightened. The spirit stood poised over the chasm.

‘Are you ready?’

‘No,’ I said.

Mum pressed her warm face to mine and lifted me up. The spirit leapt into the chasm. The silver cord kept me steady. My feet dangled. My hands were free. A powerful wind rushed through my mind.My hungerenvelopedmeinitsvoid.Somethinginside me expanded with terror. The spirit flew over, fighting the white wind, dipping into the chasm. There was a terrifying whiteness at the bottom of the abyss. I screamed. The whiteness was a force that seemed to pull us down. Suddenly, I couldn’t see. The wind felt like rocks hurled at us. The abyss was full of lurking terrors, monsters, prodigies, black illumination, white cries and incantatory noises that never ceased speaking with the wind’s frightening voice. With a supreme effort, the spirit lifted us higher, into a roseate sky. Mum held me aloft and carried me to the bed. She hovered with mein theair forawhile,speakinggoodwordstomeinthevoiceofthesky.The spirit said:

‘Don’t be afraid.’

I wasn’t any more. Mum’s voice was in my soul. The spirit hovered over the green road and as we landed I heard a great noise behind us, a bolt of thunder, the clapping ofmighty godlikehands.Mumlaidmegentlyonthebed.Thesilvercordsbindingme to the spirit were loosened. They vanished. When I got up and looked back I saw that the chasm had gone and the valley of gold had disappeared.

‘They have reappeared somewhere else,’ the spirit said.

The spirit pushed on and I followed reluctantly. The road swept upwards. There were no trees around. I heard the susurration of rivers.

‘Up at the top of the road is where all the rivers of this world meet,’ the spirit informed me.

‘What happens there?’

Mum touched my face. Her fingers smelt of rosemary.

‘When we get there I will tell you.’

Mum left the room and I travelled lightly. I found it difficult going up the long road.

‘I’m hungry.’

‘Don’t eat anything,’ the spirit said. Taking my cue, he produced some food from theair,andatehappily.‘Ifyoueat anythingyouwon’tarriveandyouwon’tbeable to return. You’ll be stuck here in the dreaded interspaces.’

We travelled up the road for a long time. I grew weary, but the spirit wouldn’t let me rest. We came to a swamp full of crocodiles and snakes. The swamp kept bubbling. Yellow gases wafted up from the surface. And then the bird with Madame Koto’s face alighted on the bank. A snake slithered towards the bird. There was a sudden noise, and the bird took off. To my horror a yellow hand emerged from the swamp, shot up in the air, and caught the bird with a terrible precision. The hand withdrew swiftly into the swamp and the bird vanished under.

Further on I saw alizard withtheblindoldman’sface.Itwasplayinganaccordion at the roadside. I chased it.

‘Come back!’ the spirit ordered.

I ignored the spirit and pursued the lizard, which scuttled into an aquamarine undergrowth. I tore after it into the undergrowth. The lizard ran on. I stamped on its tail. The tail came off. The lizard stopped for a moment, mystified. Then I pounced on its head with a stone, but the lizard escaped me and dropped its tiny accordion, which Isquashedcompletely withthestone,producingalittledinofangrymusic.Iwasstill searching furiously for the lizard, to smash it utterly, for I was sure it would have some sort of effect on the blind old man, when the spirit came and dragged me away.

We went on climbing the road. Soon its gentle green surface gave way to green rocks and stones. They were sharp underfoot and they hurt with each step. Then the stones and rocks became a fine spread of bright green glass which cut into me. I bled all the way up the endless road. Behind me the redness glittered on the green, and the blood evaporated, and its mist coloured the air.

‘You need to lose all your blood before you arrive,’ said the spirit. When I thought I could no longer bear the pain underfoot and the hunger, when the roadsides became littered with dried corpses, skeletons of babies, skulls chattering rhymed verse, the road changed into a green stream. It was carpeted with thickly matted weeds. We walked on the carpet of stream-weeds.

‘Soon we will get to the great river,’ said the spirit. ‘Be grateful. When we cross the river there is no turning back. Your companions and the whole of the spirit world and the goddess of the spirit-rivers will have a wonderful banquet awaiting you, because you are their prodigal friend.’

We travelled on. I dragged behind, my stomach flaming, my soles wounded, and my blood no longer red but blue, like ink, inscribing my barely decipherable history on the matted weeds. The spirit marched on in front, occasionally looking back to make sure I was still following. Then the stream became a plateau of cotton-wool, or was it mist, or was it clouds? I heard wailing all around. The spirit, after a while, yelled: